Alerts and Events: Minnesota

These postings are provided to help publicize and provide examples of the efforts of affiliated groups and individuals related to industrial wind energy development. Most of the notices posted here are not the product of nor are they necessarily endorsed by National Wind Watch.

I got back from Iraq in 2007 with two turbines within 1,000′ across the road on a neighbor’s property. Then the noise started, followed by shadow flicker when fall rolled around. I contacted my Jackson County Minnesota planning & zoning director who said everything was done to state specifications. He gave me the contact information to the company that was managing the wind turbines. That started a long battle with are they noisy, how noisy are they, there is no . . .

“19,500 ft. of roads, 43,000 ft. collection system and 20 foundations in 22 days … All it took was 17,000 tons of concrete … The 20-turbine Jeffers, MN Wind Farm project began in November and was completed before the ground froze.” –Carstensen Contracting, Inc., ad in April 2009 North American Windpower

Representative Andrew Falk is trying to unravel the County’s authority to delineate more stringent standards and abolish a key PUC Order that is used by counties through introduction of a Bill titled: H.F No. 2019. https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H2019.0.html&session=ls86 On 1/11/08 the Minnesota PUC issued an Order, DOCKET NO. EG-999/M-07-l-102 PUC ORDER ESTABLISHING GENERAL WIND PERMIT STANDARDS. http://energyfacilities.puc.state.mn.us/resource.html?Id=19461 This document was created in collaboration with many private citizens, local Planning and Zoning Administrators and the technical folks within the Department of Commerce. This . . .

Western Area Power Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the Agencies) will prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to evaluate the impacts of wind energy development in Western’s Upper Great Plains Region (all or parts of Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota), and on the Service’s grassland and wetland easements in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana. The PEIS also will identify mitigation strategies, standard construction practices, and best management practices; and establish a . . .